Just came out of Democracy Commission to obv crushing news. Would be easy to descend into doom. Just remember that’s what Tories wanted their 50% shitty threshold to do. They want us demoralised. Resist! We have a lot to assess + do. We need to build. We need resources to do it/1

A lot of us did a lot of work on GTVO. We’re knackered. We reached a lot of ppl+got strong YES result. What can we learn+do? Must reflect+organise together at every level. How can we boost creative ideas like those at HESC in November and reach more ppl? Eg ntnl phonebanking? /2

We need deep diving on what holds some members back from voting. Research we did @leedsucu last time gave us a mixed picture of timing, ballot confusion+fatigue, key messages not getting across. Has this changed? Have we succeeded in some areas/dropped others or stayed same?/3

We had a strong vote for action on casualisation, equal+fair pay, workload. We really must not forget that. But I’d like to see us rid of the repressive anti-Trade Union laws AND regularly smash 50% turnout regardless. This means *constructive* reflection + organising /4

Massive shout out to all amazing activists, reps, who after weeks of incessant GTVO are now reminding everyone the fight goes on -eg @HelenCFinch properly on point here:

The stuff that came up about role profiles for academic related+professional staff roles is partially covered here:ucu.org.uk/article/1931/R…
^Academic role profiles+guidance were agreed through JNCHES (AUT days, pre-UCU). ARPS role profiles weren't quite prioritised in same way /2

Been thinking about a conversation last night at a dear friend’s birthday party with several academics in attendance, wrt GTVO, the current ballot for #securework#equalpay#fairpayinhe+ fair #workload & #defendUSS: important messages we need to get out there before too late! /1

Fundamentally we all need to understand *any* ballot result we get on any issue affects our bargaining power in *all* other areas. I don’t think this point can’t be hammered home enough. Casualised colleagues who don’t yet qualify for #USS came out in number bc they got this /2

Pre-Trade Union Act 2016 we’d have been dancing on tables celebrating our last ballot result bc we got to about 42% turnout taken on aggregate + HUGE vote for action. The threshold provides a “fake news” cover for employers to pretend turnout <50% means no strength of feeling /3

There's been relatively little discussion about Brexit at @ucu VP hustings. This is likely because of our collective levels of despair, and ferocity of views held, but we as a union MUST be on top of the issues as strongly as possible. Here are my thoughts ⬇ /1

It would be easy to panic & disappear into a black hole of doom over current state of #Brexitshambles. But as a trade union we must always look for ways to defend, protect + improve the situation for our members & for society as a whole. 3/

2) Stepping back 4 an interesting footnote re: #QAnon post No. 2744...
When the verse numbers are totaled, they equal 55:17. If you've been watching #QDrops or any time you know the significance of 5 x5 & the number 17😉

When I was around ten years old, I was at a park with an older girl who bullied me relentlessly in the first grade. She was a few years older than me. We had gone there together because her mother was one of my mother’s best friends. We were expected to get along. (Cont’d)

This park was famous for having a cement slide built up into the hill on the east side of the park, that curved around and around. We used to sit on big pieces of wax paper and go down the slide to make ourselves go faster. It really worked.

The slide ended in a square pit of sand, in case you needed a soft landing if you flew off the slide at the end.

There were generally older adults around and kids were pretty good about taking turns going down the slide at of staggered pace.

6yrs ago #Jerusalem, #IDF Rep:
"we are now located in the SAME building where the Foreign Journalists are,we have close working relationships w/ hundreds of journalists. In addition we launched media project working in many platforms,twitter in Arabic, Russian, French & English." Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos

How #Israel-i Propaganda (#Hasbara) Works: #TheLuntzDocument
If you want to understand how the #propaganda works you need to read the Luntz document -- "The Key," Luntz says, "is the Claim that the Fight is Over Ideology, Not Land. About Terror, & Not Territory."#Palestine#BDS Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos